I've been putting this off for far too long. I've wanted a gaming computer for the past 5 years, and I finally have some money to build one with. Unfortunately, I'm clueless about what goes into building one and, more specifically, what parts are good and how to put them together in a smart way (Not "This one, and that one, and this other one, and those!").

Money: I am willing to put $500-700 into this.
Case: I currently have a case that I'm thinking of using. It's from a really old computer (Maybe 8 years or more), but it's still in pretty good shape. It probably doesn't have good cooling, though, so that might be a reason to buy a new one instead, but I'd like to just use this one if possible.
GPU: I have a GPU that my dad gave me a while ago. It seems to be a Radeon 3650. I'd be open to upgrading it, but as long as I can play Amnesia, Nuclear Dawn, Lead and Gold, Top Gun, and Q.U.B.E., I'll be happy. (The last three are games I bought on Steam but my computer couldn't run them).
CPU: This is where I'm clueless. I'd like this to be a simple motherboard combo, and probably Intel. I wish I knew more about these to help, but I really have no idea what's important when getting a CPU.
RAM: A little bit clueless on this one, too. I know that I want at least 8 GB of RAM, and I think that DDR2 is considered "good", but there's probably one that's better than that.
Power Supply: My dad was telling me that I'll have to get a new power supply to go with my CPU, but I don't really know much about these either.
Monitor: I want to go overboard on a monitor. All of mine for the past 5 years have been small (< 16 inches), so I'd like to get one at least 22 inches, maybe more.
Hard Drive: I'm thinking of getting a regular hard drive (not an SSD) with at least 250 GB of space. On my laptop, I use about 150 GB of my 160 GB of space, and most of those are from games.

Given all of that, what are some pointers for building my computer? I'm sorry I really don't know much about this :/

I know we're a technology forum and technology changes, but I think there's enough info in previous topics combined to choose wisely. We've covered that some PSU's don't have the adequate pins for some things, RAM should all be the same speed and make sure you're mobo can utilize the speed.

You really can't go wrong with any decision even if you're lightly educated or know what to look for.

When I look at computers I look at a few things. Will the RAM be adequate? I prefer to max out my RAM ASAP as I love to multi-task. So, I pay attention to my Page Outs. Which, over 24 days has reached 24GB's. Which, isn't super slick but I do multi-task quite a bit. Out of my 8GB's of RAM I have 4.5GB's active and 1.5 wired, currently. I'm sure if I quit a few of my server processes I could save a bit of RAM; my almost monthly restart will likely be around the end of this month. I'll also probably jump up to 16GB's of RAM at the same time (32 is just too expensive still).

I also love multiple hard drives. I run two 750GB's one for the computer data and the second for other data and a scratch disk. Sadly, I haven't found a way to send my Page Outs & Swap Memory there under OS X. I also have a third, external drive that's 2TB's that I use as a back-up for the system 750GB HDD. When the price comes down a bit I'll likely bump both HDD's to 512GB SSD's.

I don't know what your main purpose for the computer is, but back when I had a gaming tower I loaded all my games on a second HDD. But I hardly use the second HDD these years though. But it seems like you just need a generic rig. Take a look at some pre-built towers online and just take a look at the parts they use and just base a build from that and get back to us on it...?

Also, expect to spend over $700. That's some expensive hardware.

I suggest you look Here at TigerDirect for some great barebones kits. They have everything you need, but they are dissasembled. so you put them together. All you would need is to add on a monitor. I know they have a couple nick packages for less than 600 dollars.

ComicIDIOT, I think you need to re-think your policy on memory. High memory usage is not a bad thing. If you paid for 8GB of memory, wouldn't you want as much as possible to be used at a time, rather than half of it constantly being idle? Modern OSes use spare RAM for caches, buffers, and similar constructs that speed things up, as long as the RAM can be spared. If you start opening a lot of RAM-hungry programs, the OS will intelligently decrease how much stuff is being buffered/cached, and instead give that RAM to programs. However, as you astutely recognized, swap usage is another matter entirely. How much swap do you generally use?

Catherine, I'd say to start with one of the ~$1000 builds that I put together for my girlfriend and that Jonimus based his friend's computer off of, and see where you can cut corners on specs.

As Kerm said for ram 4 to 8GB is a good starting point for a new machine. Ram is cheap and your OS will use as much as you give it in most cases.

CPU and Motherboard need to be the same socket. Kerm and I recently built Intel Core i5 machines which used socket 1155. If you choose to go that route then I'd suggest just getting what he got there. You could possibly go with a cheaper motherboard but the one he settled on is at a good price for the features it includes.

For a PSU a 650W or 750W ATX PSU should be more than ample power for what you need. Generally the closer your PSU is to full load the faster it is going to fail and then tend to be most efficient at around 80% load. Going with overkill is only gonna hurt your wallet, but long term it will most likely last longer and save you time and hassle if you upgrade to things like a newer GPU.

As for GPU, a quick look at the Toms Hardware Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart tells me that, at least according to their tests, the integrated graphics on the i5-3570k will preform about the same as an HD 3650. This works out well for you as you could try one or the other to see how things turn out and then decide from there if you need a stronger graphics card later.

The other option there is to look at the AMD Llano (A series) APU's which will have slightly better onboard graphics at the cost of a slower CPU. Any of the ones with the Integrated HD 6550D or HD6620G should out preform Intels HD Graphics 4000 on the i5-3570K, but the i5 will soundly beat them on CPU intensive tasks. If you go that route you would need a Socket FM1 motherboard, which will also not really be upgradable since the next series of AMD Fusion APU processors is expected to use a new "FM2" socket.

HDD's tend to be the best price per GB at around 500GB and 1TB sizes and larger drivers will be faster and last longer so it is generally a better idea to go larger than you need.

Newegg wishlist This is the machine I helped a friend of mine build based on the build Kerm did for his girlfriend. If you have a microcenter in your area you can pick up the CPU for cheaper there. If you go for a a 650W PSU, drop the NVidia card, and go for a cheaper case such as the Cooler master Centurion 5 or just use the one you have as long as it is a standard ATX-mid tower case. If came as part of a prebuilt machine for someone like Dell or HP then it most likely will not work though so keep that in mind. With those changes it should be much closer to your initially stated price range.

Depending on where you go to school if you are going to have access to MSDNAA then you can skip on the Windows 7 license as well and just use Linux or whatever until you get access to that to get it for free. The license on your laptop is most likely non-transferable so that isn't going to be an option sadly.

Okay, I did some looking around a few weeks ago (And then had to work on other stuff, and lost the list for a while), so I'll go ahead and list what things I did find:

SSD 128 GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791
CPU, i5-3750K: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820
8 GB DDR3 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
750W PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121085

I'd like to get this tonight, while Tax-Free Weekend is still going on, which ends in about 4-5 hours. Most of the things are taken from Kerm's list, and maybe choosing the next-cheapest part from the same list (Like, with the SSD, I went down the list a bit, and chose one a little cheaper than Kerm used). The PSU was chosen pretty quickly, and I don't really know much, if anything, about them, so that could be a poor choice. I also don't really know what to look for in a case, so I think I just chose the one Kerm got (Also, the old case I was going to use was either a Dell or HP). With the SSD, I figured I'd go for something a little faster, since I don't really need to store every one of my games on my computer at one time, so I don't think I'll fill it up all the way. I'm also not sure if the CPU and Motherboard are compatible; it looks like they are, though.

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, and that I'm probably not that helpful. I am thankful y'all are helping, though

Edit: I have a Windows 7 disk to re-install everything when I get the computer. And this, right now, totals to $693.94 -- still less than $700.

That PSU sucks - go with the Corsair TX750 (or if that's too expensive, get a lower power TX like the TX550)

Did you perhaps mean the 650? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

And here's the 750 you were talking about, I think: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

I think I might go with the 650 for price, unless the extra 100w is really going to help me. Is it?

The PSU you selected definitely would only deliver about 300W reliably. I run my 4x HDD, i5, 16GB, Radeon HD 6950 desktop off a (very reliable) Corsair 620W PSU, so I think you'll be fine with a good 650Watt PSU.

650 should be fine.

Okay, I dropped down to the TX650, then. Here's what I'm looking at now:

$90 (PSU) TX650: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020
$270 (CPU) i7-2600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
$160 (Monitor) 24" LG: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005344
$55 (Case) Cooler Master: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
$190 (Motherboard) ASUS P8Z77-V: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820
$55 (RAM) Corsair DDR3 8GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345
$115 (SSD) 128 GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

Total: $953.93

I went up on my CPU because the difference between the i5 I had, and this i7, was $40 (There's a $20 code you can use to get it to that $40 difference). I figured it was worth it to get an i7 since this computer will last me a while. I checked CPUBenchmark and it listed the i7 as #44, and the i5 as #66, I think.

Is that monitor choice going to be good? I don't really know much about them, but I'm pretty sure LG is a good brand to use.

It'll do the job, but it's nothing special. I might prefer to go for slightly higher pixel density (a 23" display or even smaller).

If you were willing to spend a rather significant amount more you would want to go for an IPS panel, but your budget pretty well forces you to go TN, where there's not really any such thing as "good," just "acceptable."

So this one would be better, an IPS monitor with the same resolution, but 3" smaller? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236205

And, what is "TN" in this case? Because it doesn't make much sense as "Tennessee", I think.

Mmm, I would indeed prefer that smaller one. The pixel density is better (since it's smaller but has the same resolution), and you'll get much better colors and viewing angles out of it.

TN is Twisted Nematic, the most common panel technology. IPS, by comparison, is In-Plane Switching.

Okay, and it's also only about $10 more (with shipping) And, I remember hearing about the problems with those monitors, surprisingly.

With that change, does my list look good-to-go? Ready to hit "Buy"? Just want to make very sure that everything will work out well, since I haven't built my own computer before.

I don't have any complaints with it. I'd say you're good to go.

I'd second this; the list looks great to me. And I must say, for all the time Kllrnohj, IkariTari, Jonimus, et al spend harping on the wonders of IPS panels, although I see the difference when I stare at them side-by-side, I just don't think it would make a worthwhile difference for everyday use.

That's because you're half blind.

IPS is worth it, especially for $5-10. Go for the Asus if you want something that looks great - unless you just want big, then get the LG.

Awesome, thanks all of you for helping me pick everything out Kllrnohj, that was my thinking, too, regarding the $5-10 difference between the two. I ordered it last night, and will fill out the Tax Free sheet tonight and send that in, too. The computer should be here in about 2-3 days.